Eternal Redemption (Article 5 of 14) In studying the Book of Romans myself, and hearing and agreeing with at least one other teacher of the Word of God, I have come to believe that Romans is the basic truth concerning the revelation of the Gospel. The first five chapters tell us all about how we are justified by the grace of God and not by the works of the Old Covenant Law. And still people will say, “I think you just preach that grace message as a license to continue to live in sin.” The basic idea behind this accusation is that if all things are given by grace, then we can go and live anyway we want, including continuing in sin, and it doesnt matter. Truly, if that question did not come up, I would think that I have not relayed the message of grace as I should. This question is a natural reaction to the grace message i.e., to assume that we can just live in sin and it doesnt matter. However, the truth of the matter begins in Romans 6:1&2. (1) “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” The Apostle Paul answers this question with another question. Once we have been baptized into the death of Jesus (verses 3 and 4) and have been made dead to sin, why would we choose to once again live in sin? Indirectly Paul is asking how and why one would again choose sin once freed from it. How does that make any sense? Our old nature has been crucified with Christ and the body of sin has been destroyed (verse 6) so that we no longer are servants of sin. Why would anyone choose, once dead to sin, to be made alive to sin again? We can also recall from 1 Peter 2:24 “...that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.” So, once the Grace of God through faith in Jesus has made us free from sins, made us righteous, why would be want to start living in sin again, thus declaring ourselves unrighteous? Its obvious that anyone who accuses anyone else of teaching or preaching the grace message in order to justify remaining in sin, either isnt truly Born Again or they are just plain ignorant of what Gods Word says. Being given the above then, the question should be, why should we refrain from sin? If Jesus paid that expensive price to free us from sin, there has to be a reason why we should not sin. There are three main reasons and they are as follows: 1) We are dead to sin, if we are truly Born Again (Romans 6:2&11) 2) Sin gives Satan inroads into our lives to bring in whatever he choose (Job 2:7) 3) How will we ever set someone else free (of sin) if we arent set free ourselves? (Matthew 7:3-5) Its that very same sin which we are talking about here from which we have been Eternally Redeemed. Its your spirit man which has been redeemed, and he remains that way even though your flesh continues to sin, because your spirit has been sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise so that the effects of that sin can no longer harm him. And one glorious day the redemption of our physical bodies will be fulfilled, according to 1 Corinthians 15, and we will go to be with the Lord forever. If anyone wants to believe that the preaching and teaching of the grace message is teaching a license to continue to commit sin, then by what means were you saved? Ephesians 2:8 says that we were saved “...by grace...” through faith. Are you telling me then that you were saved by a license to continue to commit sin? You have to realize that all men who have been saved are saved the same way, “...by grace are ye saved through faith...” There is no way to get around the fact that we are to live and walk in Jesus in the same fashion in which we received Him, and that is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8 and Colossians 2:6). Therefore, if I, who was saved by grace through faith, have done so in order to justify continuing to commit sin, then that same grace also applies to all who are saved, if grace is truly a license to commit sin. In other words, “IF” Grace is a license to commit sin for one man, its the same for all. Those who are saved and make such ignorant accusations may now be aware that your accusations also implicate yourselves, because you were saved by the same grace which you claim is a license to continue to commit sins. In order then to judge someone else guilty of this, you have also implied that you are guilty of the same because all men are saved by the same grace, through faith. And its only by Salvation that we receive the Eternal Redemption Jesus paid for with His precious blood. Many say that you must get every sin under the blood and forgiven, and if you dont get all of them under the blood before you die, you will go directly to hell. Let me first say that the idea of putting our sins under the blood comes from the Old Covenant Law of animal blood sacrifices. As most people know, this was done repeatedly for the atonement of the sins of the people. However, in the New Covenant, Jesus was made the Final Sacrifice and His blood was offered upon the alter only once. Therefore, we cannot continually claim the blood of Jesus over and over for our sins, as much of the New Covenant Church is currently doing. We can only claim the blood of Jesus once and, if we are Born Again, we have already done that the day we bowed our knee to the Lordship of Jesus and made Him your Lord and Savior. This is what Eternal Redemption is all about. That Christ was offered one time and one time only for our sins and the one offering He made is eternal. If we believe that this redemption stops or ceases, for any reason, or for any length of time, then were not believing in an eternal redemption. If we believe that our salvation is lost, and therefore our redemption as well, every time we sin, then we are believing in a momentary redemption. Its momentary in that its only good until the next time your flesh commits a sin. This isnt the eternal redemption which Christ died to get for us. Who is it among us who honestly thinks he can recall every sin he has committed, in order to get them all under the blood? Be truthful with yourself now...how about over the course of just one day? One hour? In other words, what if you forget a sin and dont get it under the blood? If you died then would you go to hell because you forgot to confess a sin? “Oh no,” they say, “we just do the best we can and Gods grace takes over for the sins we forget.” There are many who believe this but I need to ask where this is stated in the Bible? Where is the scripture which tell us to do the best we can in our own knowledge and understanding and then Gods Grace will take over from there? In contrast, the Bible tells us NOT to lean to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). This entire belief is just another baseless assumption and there is no Biblical Truth to it. Its legalistic, religious, bondage! It places the burden for our salvation/forgiveness and the responsibility for it on us and not on Jesus. No one can remember every single sin they have committed, so this is impossible to do. We sin, and arent even aware of it, constantly. So if we have sins which have been not been forgotten, or sins which we commit and are unaware of, then obviously they are not getting put under the blood. If what a lot of the church today believes is actually true, then none of us will ever get to Heaven but all are destined to spend eternity in hell because of our unconfessed and unforgiven sins. Once again I must reiterate...our redemption is eternal. Thats forever. I cant speak for anyone else, but I would much rather depend upon what Gods Grace has already provided for me, forgiveness of sins past, present, and future, than to attempt to keep track of my sins myself and then also be held responsible for them. Im not so vain in my thinking that I believe I can recount every sin that I have committed, even in the half a day I have spent at my computer typing this today. I believe this because if there is yet a price to be paid for sin, for instance the loss of our salvation, what was the purpose of Jesus shed blood for our forgiveness? Jesus has already paid the price for our sins, hasnt He? And yet there are some who believe that God is exacting the penalty of the loss of our salvation because of sin, over and over and over, each time we sin? How does that make sense? If there is a penalty that we still have to pay for sin, in any way, shape, or form, then the crucifixion of Jesus meant nothing as far as our redemption is concerned. If our sins are imputed to us in any way, why did Jesus die to forgive them? If I am responsible for my sins in that I must get them under the blood, repeatedly every time I sin, then why did Jesus die to forgive my sins? Jesus was already made the substitute for the paying of the penalty of all of my sins, so how can it be that I am held responsible for getting them under the blood? His blood was already shed, one time and one time only, to cover our sins, 2000 years ago. This “temporary or momentary redemption” that much of the church of today is teaching is not the Eternal Redemption which Jesus died to make available to the New Covenant Church.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 10:10:26 +0000
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